The World We Create Together
by annopin
Summary: A continuation from Naruto 699 onward as Sabuku no Gaara coped up with everything the war left in its wake...that is, his duty as a Kazekage and as the most loyal friend to his precious person, Uzumaki Naruto.
1. Dusk before Dawn

**Chapter 1: Dusk before Dawn**

As he emerged from a longingly indefinite dream within Tsukuyomi, a vision of chaos and harsh reality gradually became clear among surrounding remnants of the horrendous war. Buzzing sounds from other survivors of his allied forces around the area were getting louder into cries of injuries and mourns for lost loved ones.

The Forth Shinobi War had finally come to an end.

" _Gaara!"_ Came a familiar sound of his sister from some distance away. He glanced at the direction to see Temari and Kankuro rushing towards him with worried looks. He straightened up his composure, a habitual sign to give off his calm and collected vibes to assure them of his safety, albeit being battered and bruised all over. His chakra was almost down to zero.

In a blurry moment, his eyes re-focused and scanned the area once more, now searching for something..or rather, someone in particular…the blond shinobi who threw himself in fighting Madara head-on with only a few remaining comrades left in the last decisive battle field, alongside _Uchiha Sasuke._

There, his eyes met with the two familiar figures. They successfully took out Madara against all odds and survived after what had to be their destined ultimate final clash, probably long-overdue since they were apart in Konoha years ago. Standing side by side with connecting hands to form the release jutsu, Naruto and Uchiha's expressions were none other than calm and somewhat…peaceful. _They have both settled whatever it was between the two…but at what costs?_

Something was threatening to leak from Gaara's eyes at the sight before him…something shifting alternately between happiness and pain. He stared across into an empty space at his friend's supposedly _right arm_ and then closed his eyes trying to suppress those overwhelming emotions which he did not quite understand himself.

' _That's the price you're willing to pay to save your most precious people right, Naruto? And it could as well have cost much more than that along this chosen path of yours.'_

Even the one consumed into the bottomless pit of darkness would eventually give in to the persistent light that stubbornly refused to leave him in there.

Gaara had been in that place once. Not only him, but also many others who had led their own lives in a circle of power greed, false delusions, stupidity and hatred, dragging each others into the same darkness throughout shinobi history.

 _Would all that be truly over?_

Through long deep, meditating breathe, Gaara pushed it to the back of his mind. He would do with whatever blessing was given at the moment. It was surely a long road ahead to change this once broken world into a brighter place for them all. Naruto had risked _his life and beyond_ to light up this first ray of light. And _he_ would do anything in his power to further help make it shine through.

Teal eyes glittering with determination, he stood tall readily himself into his much-needed Kazekage persona. There is so much to do to restore what had been lost and damaged. His siblings approached him, small reassuring smiles plastered on their faces while Suna shinobis started to gather around him. Their exhausted features told past stories but those solemn expressions in each of them also hinted a new one of… _hope._

He momentarily gave a subtle gentle smile at himself before rising up to lead them once again, only this time to build up something bigger than what they all had destroyed.

' _I'll do it for these precious people of mine, for this world…'_

 _._

 _._

' _I'll do it for You, Naruto'_


	2. Moving Forward

**Chapter 2: Moving Forward**

"Let's end our discussion today and have this finalised draft stipulated in the contract. It should be signed and ready in a few days at best." With added sigh, a steady female voice continues. "I'm sorry, the council always takes last-minute pre-cautions and doubts when it comes to international agreements like these"

"That's no problem, Hokage-Sama." answered Temari with a wry smile."Believe me, we have quite a fair share of this kind in our own council too"

Tsunade looked amused. "We're all set then! You must be pretty tired, Temari-san. Please feel free to enjoy the rest of your stay here as you see fit _…Shizune!"_ Raising up calling out to her assistant, she was more than ready to hang loose herself…a little cup of sake would surely be blissful!

Temari took a moment when the door opened to bow and quietly leave the HoKage chamber, fulfilling her important ambassador's assignment of carrying through this initiative inter-village contract, the first official one in 4 months between Suna and Konoha after the war ended. During the time in-between, she had been working as a liaison by travelling back and forth until today that all terms and conditions were mutually agreed upon by both parties.

It had been an especially strained period of time for people; shinobis and citizens alike, of all five elemental nations with the war taking its tow both physically and mentally on them whist struggling their best to recover from the losses. Proper burials to honour fallen comrades, restorations and repairs of some damaged buildings and infrastructure, additional houses and shelters to accommodate some of the poor orphans left behind, replenishments of food and supplies mostly used up as military provisions during the war, etc…were among the works to be prioritised of which all subjects with various skills were gathered and be in charge in every position possibly required . That is to say, nobody really had any luxury to openly mourn after all…

' _Geez_ … _just give us a break, won't you!'_

Her stream of thought was interrupted when a lone figure leaning against an entrance wall came into view.

The pony-tailed shadow ninja was idly standing there, hands in his pockets looking as disinterested as ever. She sighed for umpteenth time. It must have been really long days for both of them; _her in never-ending meetings and him constantly waiting for her._ How his face slightly brightened up with a more attentive countenance whenever he saw her was always endearing and refreshing in her mind though. It never got old for _only she_ had a privilege of receiving this concerned gesture from the lazy, nonchalant, yet one of the most genius shinobis Konoha had to offer. Her lips gently curved upward as she strolled to him, _her oasis._

"Come take a breather eh?" He tilted his head to the side after just one quick glance at her and without another word, they agreeably retired themselves for an evening into the warmth of crowded busy street.

.

.

.

' _For better or worse..'_ thought Temari _'I truly wish you realised this same deep affection within yourself, Gaara'_


	3. The Growth

**Chapter 3: The Growth**

"Naruto!" shouted the pink-haired medic-nin from behind when he was heading to meet with Tsunade and Kakashi after lunch. Naruto turned around to see his close kunoichi friend, a big grin automatically appeared on his face. "Yo, Sakura-channnn…what's up?!"

"I'm on my way to the hospital for afternoon medical briefing session with some jonins and just spotted you…got a meeting again?" said the girl with a tiny smile. It had been some time that she last saw him and she missed that, having been swamped with every field of medical jobs _possible_ in the past months. It almost drove her crazy.

"Yeah…Shikamaru will be there too. We'll kinda wrap things up a bit about the post-war mutual-aid agreements with Suna…that kinda paper stuff you know. Not that it really makes any difference for me though since we're already working together out there anyway, but we need an approval from the whole council to make it official…something like that I guess…" he trailed off. "As an apprentice, Baa-chan's been keeping me informed of those affairs more or less" He said while rubbing the back of his head.

Hearing that made her cracked a wider smile. Somehow it made her feel proud for her best friend, a kind of sisterly instinct when witnessing the once-naughty, loud-mouthed boy growing so much into this great young man. He might become a war hero, as already referred by some villagers now, after having fought his way through hells and back with victories, but Naruto was always _Naruto_ to her.

"In other words, I'm learning how to run a village and politics behind it…that's what Baa-chan said" For a second, he looked a little uncertain but suddenly beamed at her again. "What about you, Sakura-chan? I know you've been working so hard with those injured too. Are you alright yourself?" Naruto's voice had a hidden concern which wasn't entirely work-related.

"Of course, I am! Don't expect any less from the Legendary Sannin's successor, will you!" She felt lightened up a bit just by chatting with the blond whose bright energy always had this positive effect on people around…something she desperately needed right now for she knew that not only because of the edgy circumstance they were all in, but also long, strenuous works were what had been keeping her mentally on the right tracks since the day _he_ left the village, once again.

 _For how long would one's ever-yearning heart be able to keep on yearning?_

They fell into a short moment of understanding silence. He then gave a small pat on her shoulder "I gotta go now or it's Kakashi kicking my ass this time for being late…that's unacceptable record! And hey, let's have ramen lunch together some times ok?"

She glanced aside to be greeted by Naruto's brighter, encouraging smile, a familiar confident one that always reassured her that everything would finally be _alright_.

That brought an infectious smile to her face "Well..okay, I'll see you around then!" said the girl before they started walking separate ways.

That's right, she trained so hard to become tough along all these years that she had faithfully been waiting...

 _She certainly wouldn't let just a few more break her this time, would she?"_


	4. The Meeting

**Chapter 4: The Meeting**

"Peppermint, Lady Ferns, Chamomile, Sage, Thyme, Catnip, garlic and…ginger?" asked Naruto while looking at the last section of the contract with a slight furrow.

"Those are some of our most powerful medicinal plants here. Depending on extracting process, they can be used in various kinds of medicine or simply to maintain good health" answered Tsunade across from her large Hokage desk. Not very far away at her right side, Kakashi was standing casually with his usual unreadable mask.

"Hmm…and what about this long list of… _fruit and vegetable seeds_? Why do Gaara even need this kinda stuff? Isn't Suna right in the middle of desert and can't really grow anything other than desert plants?"

"That's right" The Godaime Hokage nodded and continued. "As you already know, we've unofficially started our collaborations for more than a month by now that we exchanged different skilled shinobi to help aid all restorations of both villages. I just went through some progress reports this morning. It looked like the Suna team sent here are all capable wind and earth release types who also specialise in highly-solid house and building constructions in Suna. Their special chakra-infused technique into various natural materials has been quite helpful for our new Intelligence Division and Police Force reconstructions as of date"

"Each individual Suna Shinobi is said to have high survival skills and endurance, being born in such harsh environments" added Kakashi. "That's why the Kazekage had offered his personnels to help us here since it appeared that Konoha sustained much more geographical damages compared to Suna or other countries after the war. Scattering battles mainly took place in our territories so we ended up needing as many human resources as possible to clear this big mess"

"Yeah…I know that. And we also sent our handpicked medic team to help heal their injured in exchange. Heard they've been doing great to help expand Suna's more advanced medical research and knowledge as well right? It's a great and timely allied effort and all…really!" grinned Naruto.

"..But what's got to do with this weird stuff they requested in here?" He looked at the scroll again, still puzzled.

"It's because Suna's planing to set up the _Pioneer Greenhouse Research Project_ paralleled to its current medical undertaking. And for them to officially ask for all these in exchange for their rare earth elements like ore, minerals, iron, copper, etc…would only mean that they've successfully secured some kind of sustainable water-supply source as the first and foremost condition to even continue it" Tsunade elaborated thoughtfully. "..which is interesting"

"Water sources?…That's cool, man!…but _How?_..It's a vast desert with only sand!" Naruto was getting only more confused.

"The _Kazekage'_ s found it himself" spoke Shikamaru for the first time in their meeting, drawing 3 curious pairs of eyes on him.

 _"Eh…Gaara?_ Why and How!?" asked the blond, surprised.

Shikamaru inwardly signed, unsure of how much he should say in this matter. It was Suna's internal affairs that only reached him because he _personally_ learnt it from Temari. _'The woman's gonna kill me one of these days'_

"About 3 months ago, he and his team had begun scouting desert areas surrounding Suna. Then the Kazekage began by infusing his chakra into the deepest sand layer possible within pre-determined plotted areas. Starting from west-to-east and then north-to-south lines, each at a time, he then used those sand as his sensors trying to scan downward through soil and rock layers underneath for let's say, no less than 300-500 meters deep,…in search for possible traces of underground water.

"…."

"Well, the basic idea is you keep doing the same process and expanding the scoutings in circles from the the center until you hopefully,…find it"

He chuckled when seeing startled looks around him. "Funnily enough, it did sound incredibly ridiculous to me at first too, just like looking for a needle in a haystack you know…and not to mention that crazy amount of chakra needed to repeatedly doing that in who-know-how-many-times to look for something that might even be non-existent in the first place. But geez…the guy really did it, as it seems the case"

' _No wonder, he collapsed a buncha times. Temari's been worrying sick about his strained conditions'_ thought Shikamaru.

"Impressive feat indeed" murmured Kakashi. "From the look of things, if there exists any desert aquifers nearby Suna at all, it's only Gaara-kun who would have had any chance of finding it, considering his unique sand-manipulating abilities of that magnitude. To think that he came up with this inconceivable plan and actually carried through with it though.…"

"That means he had to do it all by himself too" Tsunade smirked ' _the Kazekage brat is really something huh?'_

"Awesome!" exclaimed the blond excitedly. "Does that also mean his village can grow more food and plants from now on right?!" He was so proud of his friend for doing this honourable sacrifice for the sake of his village's well-beings. _Ah, and how he missed him!_

"It's possible, but of course efficient irrigation system is equally important for supportable agricultural environments, which I believe will be soon underway as well" explained Tsunade.

After a moment pause, she looked up at Naruto pointedly "Do you know an implication of all this, Naruto?"

"Huh?" answered the blond intellectually.

"What it eventually means, if the project comes out successfully as planned,…is that Suna will be _much more_ self-sustainable and independent that we may not gain as much trade advantages over it like in the past. This point alone in the contract got me headaches from all heated debates among the council. Allies or not, some of them just didn't want Konoha to lose ground"

" _That's bullshit!"_ snapped the blond with incredulous look on his face. "We're the strongest allies of all nations. Isn't it just right to help each others out to prosper and promote trusts? _Isn't that what we've been fighting for?!"_

The Hokage briefly glanced at the copy-ninja, who gave her a knowing look. It wasn't an unexpected reaction from the blond after all.

"Calm down, Naruto. We disapproved of their arguments too and got them to finally agree on the contract you see there? Kakashi reassured him by pointing to the Konoha's sign and approval signature on the paper. ' _Another impressive feat actually'_

"It's called village politics, brat! That's what you'll have to be getting used to and handling wisely if you're to become a good Hokage"

' _There's so much that you need to learn down this road, Naruto'_


End file.
